This invention relates generally to safety apparatus and more particularly to a harness and seat-board apparatus arranged to be worn by a person and which, depending upon how configured, performs various functions, namely, to prevent the person from falling from an elevated position, to suspend the person in a manner to enable the person to perform some activity while so suspended and without interference by the apparatus, and to enable the person to readily connect himself/herself to repelling means to repel to a lower elevation.
As a result of the enactment of various safety laws persons working at elevated height positions, e.g., window washers, telephone lineman, etc., are required to be protected against falls. One common approach to achieve that end is the use of a safety belt which is worn on the worker's waist. The belt is arranged to be worn about the waist of the workman and includes a D-ring or some other metal loop fixedly mounted on the belt in the center of the portion located at the worker's back. The D-ring is arranged to be "tied off" i.e., connected, via a lanyard or some other means, to a supporting member, e.g., a portion of a building or other static structure, a rope grab device mounted on a safety line, etc. Thus, once the worker is tied off should he/she fall off of the platform, scaffolding, or other support on which he/she is working or if that platform etc. itself drops or otherwise falls away, the worker will be prevented from falling to the ground.
While such safety belts are generally suitable for their intended purposes they are not designed to act as a primary means for suspending the person at an elevated position to enable him/her to perform some activity while so suspended. In fact such safety belts are generally incapable of such use since they tend to inhibit the person's mobility, thus interfering with the worker's ability to function efficiently when he/she is tied off.
Harnesses have been developed and sold to serve as a means to distribute the shock load across portions of the body of the wearer for fall protection purposes. Such harnesses typically include straps or loops which are arranged to encircle the wearer's thighs, a belt or some other portion to encircle the wearer's waist, and straps extending over the wearer's shoulders. Such harnesses typically also include at least one connection member, e.g., a D-ring, to enable the harness to be connected to some tie-off means for fall protection purposes.
So-called "bosun's chairs" or "seat-boards" have also been developed for applications wherein worker is to be suspended thereby and where some mobility is necessary. As is known a apparatus typically comprises board or other generally planar member configured to support the buttocks of a person and having straps or some other flexible members connected thereto for suspending the apparatus while the person is seated therein.
While such prior art "bosun's chair" or "seat-board apparatus" fulfill their intended suspension function without impairing the mobility of the wearer, they too provide less than optimum functionality.
Examples of lowering or repelling devices are found in U.S. Letters Pat. Nos. 3,220,511 and 3,250,515. Moreover, some such devices are commercially available. One particularly effective device for controlled lowering purposes is the SKY GENIE device sold by Descent Control, Inc. of Fort Smith, Ark.
The ability to be tied-off at an elevated position by being connected to a rope grab, or other suitable device, while enabling the ready disconnection therefrom and concomitant connection to a lowering or repelling device is of considerable importance from a safety standpoint and is the subject of my prior inventions. Those inventions are disclosed and/or claimed in my copending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 07/466,898 and 07/533,610, filed on Jan. 18, 1990 and Jun. 5, 1990, and entitled Fall Prevention and Lowering System and Methods of Use, and Safety Harness, respectively, which are now abandoned.